Verrucomicrobiota is a phylum of
Gram-negative bacteria that contains only a few described species. The species identified have been isolated from
fresh water, marine and
soil environments and human
faeces. A number of as-yet uncultivated species have been identified in association with eukaryotic hosts including extrusive explosive
ectosymbionts of
protists and
endosymbionts of
nematodes from genus
Xiphinema, residing in their
gametes.[2][3] The verrucomicrobial bacterium
Akkermansia muciniphila is a human intestinal symbiotic bacterium that is considered as a promising probiotic.[4]
Verrucomicrobiota are abundant within the environment, though relatively inactive.[5] This phylum is considered to have two sister phyla:
Chlamydiota (formerly Chlamydiae) and
Lentisphaerota (formerly Lentisphaerae) within the
PVC superphylum.[6] The Verrucomicrobiota phylum can be distinguished from neighbouring phyla within the PVC group by the presence of several
conserved signature indels (CSIs).[7] These CSIs represent unique,
synapomorphic characteristics that suggest common ancestry within Verrucomicrobiota and an independent lineage amidst other bacteria.[8]CSIs have also been found that are shared by Verrucomicrobiota and
Chlamydiota exclusively of all other bacteria.[9] These CSIs provide evidence that Chlamydiota is the closest relative to Verrucomicrobiota, and that they are more closely related to one another than to the Planctomycetales.
^Coomans A, Vandekerckhove TT, Claeys M (1 January 2000). "Transovarial transmission of symbionts in Xiphinema brevicollum (Nematoda: Longidoridae)". Nematology. 2 (4). Brill: 443–449.
doi:
10.1163/156854100509303.
eISSN1568-5411.
ISSN1388-5545.
^Vandekerckhove TT, Willems A, Gillis M, Coomans A (2000). "Occurrence of novel verrucomicrobial species, endosymbiotic and associated with parthenogenesis in Xiphinema americanum-group species (Nematoda, Longidoridae)". International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology. 50 (6). Microbiology Society: 2197–2205.
doi:
10.1099/00207713-50-6-2197.
ISSN1466-5034.
PMID11155997.
^Cho J, Vergin K, Morris R, Giovannoni S (2004). "Lentisphaera araneosa gen. nov., sp. nov, a transparent exopolymer producing marine bacterium, and the description of a novel bacterial phylum, Lentisphaerae". Environ Microbiol. 6 (6): 611–21.
Bibcode:
2004EnvMi...6..611C.
doi:
10.1111/j.1462-2920.2004.00614.x.
PMID15142250.
^Wagner, M; Horn, M (2006). "The Planctomycetes, Verrucomicrobia, Chlamydiae and sister phyla comprise a superphylum with biotechnological and medical relevance". Current Opinion in Biotechnology. 17 (3): 241–9.
doi:
10.1016/j.copbio.2006.05.005.
PMID16704931.